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Many Teachers (many + teacher)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Education100%

Selected Abstracts

Testing the Water: Practitioner Opinion of a Regional Credit Scheme (NICATS)

HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2001
Anthony Cook
The Northern Ireland Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme encompasses all levels from introductory to doctoral. It was designed to facilitate the progression of learners through both the Further and Higher Education structures in Northern Ireland and has provided the model for developments elsewhere. Part of its development included a consultative procedure that involved curriculum specialists liaising with a wide range of practitioners to identify strengths and problematic areas within the scheme. The consultation found that, at the time (1998), practitioner awareness of CATS schemes was generally poor. Most teachers of lower level courses felt that the scheme in general would add value to their courses since it would place them within a hierarchical framework and indicate to their students clear forward progression routes. Many teachers of multilevel courses (in particular degrees) felt that attempting to define levels within a course would result in a loss of teacher autonomy and a reduction in the flexibility with which courses could be offered. Many interviewees stressed the sequential nature of their subject's structure and the perception that this caused problems for student progression through a system of levels based on generic descriptors. It is concluded that although there was broad practitioner support for NICATS, many of its potential benefits will only be realized after substantial staff development. When implemented, it should result not only in a more transparent description of courses but also substantial development in the delivery of curricula and the assessment of student learning. [source]

The Ideological Implications of Using "Educational" Film to Teach Controversial Events

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2009
JEREMY D. STODDARD
ABSTRACT Use of media in today's classrooms, from feature and documentary film to news clips streamed via the Web, has grown exponentially. Film can be a powerful medium for teaching and learning, but is often viewed as a neutral source of information. This collective case study focuses on two teachers who use documentary film to teach about controversial events, with the goal of better understanding teacher selection and use of film as part of pedagogy and the experiences of students who are engaged in deliberative activities with film. In this case, teachers utilized film to help students examine two controversial events in U.S. history, the use of atomic weapons against Japan at the end of World War II and the role of the United States in Vietnam. These cases illustrate a tension that many teachers, who want to engage students in deliberative activities but who also want students to adopt particular moral or political stances, face in today's classrooms. The teachers in these cases utilize film as a neutral source for students to use as evidence for taking a position, despite the value-laden perspectives included in the films, perspectives that aligned with the teachers' own political beliefs. Other findings include student inability to recognize the perspectives in documentary films, the epistemic stances of teachers and students that documentaries are accurate and neutral, and the characteristics of students who are better equipped to recognize ideological perspectives. Implications for teachers, teacher educators, and especially democratic and social studies education researchers are explored. [source]

TEACHER AS PROPHETIC TRICKSTER

EDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 1 2009
Jim Garrison
These include nurturing caregiver, guardian of morality, champion of the global economy, self-sacrificing do-gooder, cultural worker, intellectual, tyrant, and many more metaphors. Jim Garrison's essay introduces another figure, a mythological persona, to the pantheon of images depicting the school teacher , the Trickster. Tricksters are masters of multiple interpretation that cross, bend, break, and redefine borders. Garrison concentrates on prophetic tricksters that create openings in closed structures to reveal hidden possibilities. In practice, many teachers are tricksters. They know how to maneuver in, around, and through rigid bureaucratic structures and standards to connect with their students and make a difference while exercising creative autonomy in the classroom. Garrison's essay provides examples of trickster teachers drawn from literature depicting classroom practice. [source]

Networking School Teachers to Promote Better Practice in the Teaching of Science across Europe

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 4 2009
SUZANNE GATT
Teachers are often confined to their classrooms with limited or no time to share with colleagues the difficulties they face, their concerns, and their successful initiatives. This leads to a situation where they end up teaching in ways and approaches they believe to be best with no chance to know how others may be approaching similar difficulties in different and potentially more effective ways. Teachers do not have the opportunity to share and collaborate on projects with other education professionals, as their daily routine confines them to their school premises. This article discusses how the Comenius 3 project ,Hands on Science' has helped to create a network through which regular meetings in the forms of conferences on science for teachers were and are still organised to promote good practice in science teaching. The method used for connecting so many teachers across Europe was through key persons strategically chosen across the different partner countries. The conferences organised by the network differed from academic conferences in that they provided a platform for teachers to share their successes in teaching different aspects of science, particularly through the promotion of the use of experiments and other hands on approaches. [source]